Sunday, June 08, 2008

Clowning Around

Shmoo recently hosted a clown workshop for his friends, where they tried their hands at juggling, tumbling, acting in skits, plate spinning, and more.

Here's my shmoo in his graduation nose, hair still a bit damp from the pie fight. He took to clowning like a natural, who would have guessed? Actually, I've been calling him a clown most of his life.

I packed shmoo a lunch box to run off and join the circus with ("Now be sure to do what the carnies tell you, and don't forget to eat all your deep-fried vegetables-on-a-stick"). A veggie dog clown (Yves) in a whole wheat bun has a lettuce ruffle and sugar snap buttons. The face is a mix of Vegenaise and ketchup. Cantaloupe and honeydew are decorated with two clown picks which can also be used for eating. Vegan animal crackers and in-shell peanuts complete the circus theme.

Verdict: Clowns -- cute or creepy? Whatever you decide, keep in mind that circuses with animals suck, so it's a good idea to get your clown kicks at animal-free circuses. Shmoo ate everything but the lettuce and the peanuts, which he wants to keep to feed to the squirrels. 3 rings.

Please tell Shmoo to eat the peanuts himself because, unfortunately, raw peanuts are unhealthy for squirrels. They contain a tryspin inhibitor which prevents them from absorbing the protein they eat. Also, the shell is flimsy and when they horde peanuts, the chances that they'll be edible later on in the season are small. If the squirrels are going to eat the nuts right away, then roasted peanuts without salt is OK for them. Hazelnuts are the best though.

My kids have been going crazy for juggling too ever since my 6 y.o. had “circus day” at school in Jan. My 11 year old is getting pretty good at it. We use juggling balls made of a small baggie of rice inside a few layers of round balloons with their ends cut off. If you don’t already know about these, you can see them on http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/jugglingballs.htm However if you put the rice into a plain sandwich bag first (not the Ziploc kind) and fold or tape it over, you can skip the inflating step and stretch it over the first balloon layer as the demo shows for later layers.

We have also started learning about otedama, a traditional Japanese game, a cross between juggling and jacks, which is described on Wikipedia. Otedama is better with small cloth beanbags.

It's great to have you back, Jennifer. I've missed your posts. I don't have a little shmoo, and I work at home, but your lunch boxes are so adorable, and I get some great ideas for fun lunch combinations, even if I don't get to put them into tiny cute containers!

Hi! I'm visiting you blog since 2005, and I would love to buy a copy of your book. Do you think the new edition will be sold anywhere besides Amazon? I live in Argentina and I don't have an international credit card and that's the only way in Amazon.